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Pollution

January 19, 2008 08:18 PM - Reuters

HELSINKI (Reuters) - The European Commission will ask Finland to increase its renewable energy output by around a third to 38 percent in draft proposals to be unveiled next week, Finnish public broadcaster YLE said on Saturday.
The Commission is due to spell out on Wednesday how it intends to cut greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change, share out the burden of cuts in carbon dioxide (CO2) and increase the use of renewable energy sources.

Two major players in the Japanese paper industry have been left with egg on their face after admitting they lied about the amount of recycled paper in their products.
Several days ago Nippon Paper Group, the second largest paper company in Japan, admitted it had lied about the percentage of recycled material in its products. Oji Paper, the country’s biggest paper company, revealed that it too had lied about the recycled content of its paper today.

You’ve got to be careful with the accelerator because hybrid school buses like to go.
Dan Taghon, the director of transportation for the Sigourney Community School District in southeast Iowa, said his district’s new hybrid bus has been running routes since Jan. 3. And Taghon, who drives the bus on one of the district’s six routes, said he likes the 65-passenger machine powered by an electric motor and a V-8 diesel engine.

January 17, 2008 07:51 AM - Reuters

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway, which last year set what it called the world's most ambitious target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, said on Thursday it aimed to go "carbon neutral" in 2030, which is 20 years earlier than its previous target.
The new target was set when the Labour-led coalition government reached agreement with three opposition parties to bring the goal forward from 2050.

Water, our most basic need, is poised to be the most baffling challenge of the 21st century. It is being ignored wantonly at a time when more than 1 million people per year die from its scarcity and contamination. Children under age five account for at least 90 percent of water-related deaths. Meanwhile, economic productivity and educational opportunities are lost to illness, leaving millions more in an impoverished state even if they do survive their first five years of life.
Access to water is a human right. Yet that statement makes many people uncomfortable. Most in the developed world can hardly imagine water being anything more than a nominal expense that is easily drawn from a faucet. They think, "Surely it is a commodity to be bought and sold. It hardly costs anything, and it is even reusable, so what's the big deal?"

January 15, 2008 11:37 PM - Reuters

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Air pollution in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong increased markedly last year, with 27 major cities and counties suffering a record number of hazy days, Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday.
China's industrial heartland of Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong, recorded an average of 75.7 days of haze in 2007, the highest level since the Communists came to power in 1949 and a "marked increase" over normal years, according to a new report released by Guangdong's meteorological bureau, Xinhua said.

An international team of scientists, led by Dr Edward Hanna at the University of Sheffield, has demonstrated that recent warm summers have caused the most extreme Greenland ice melting in 50 years. The new research provides further evidence of a key impact of global warming and helps scientists place recent satellite observations of Greenland's shrinking ice mass in a longer-term climatic context.

Plug-in hybrids - PHEVs - could revolutionize the impact cars have on the environment...if only they had the right battery.
General Motors, Toyota, and other auto manufacturers hope to put their first plug-ins on sales floors by the year 2010. When they do, all you'll have to do is plug your vehicle into a regular 120-volt electrical socket, charge the car for several hours overnight, and drive away. You won't need a single drop of gasoline! In fact, because electricity is cheaper than gasoline, the fuel cost is expected to be the equivalent of less than $1/gallon of gas.

The State Council, China’s cabinet, recently issued a directive banning the production of ultra-thin plastic bags for environmental reasons. The ruling also prohibits shops, supermarkets, and sales outlets nationwide from handing out free plastic bags starting on June 1, according to China News Agency. The imposition of fees on plastic bag usage is likely to influence consumer behavior in China and bring environmental benefits in the coming years.

January 15, 2008 09:24 AM - Reuters

Automakers should be given more time to cut carbon dioxide emissions from their cars under legislation proposed by the European Union's executive arm, EU lawmakers said on Tuesday.
In a non-binding report, the European Parliament said manufacturers should reduce the average level of car C02 emitted to 125 grams per km by 2015, rather than to 120 grams by 2012 as proposed by the European Commission last month.